Taiwan’s Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall set to lose authoritarian symbols and giant statue of former KMT leader

Name: Future of Chiang Kai-shek statues questioned as Taiwan reckons with former leader’s legacy
Uploaded: 2021-09-09T01:00:26.000Z
Duration: 3 min 14 s
Description: Future of Chiang Kai-shek statues questioned as Taiwan reckons with former leader’s legacy

The Taipei landmark was built to honour Chiang after his death but has long angered relatives of those killed in the ‘White Terror’

The commission that proposed the changes says they will symbolise the island’s transition from authoritarian one-party rule to democracy

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The memorial hall is one of Taipei’s most prominent landmarks. Photo: Shutterstock Images

Lawrence Chung

Published: 9:00am, 9 Sep 2021

A Taiwanese government body has released plans to transform the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall – one of Taipei’s most prominent landmarks – by removing all symbols associated with the late Kuomintang party leader in what it described as a reflection on the island’s authoritarian past.

The memorial, set in a 240,000 square metre-commemorative plaza in the island’s capital city, was built in 1976 in memory of Chiang who died a year earlier.

Chiang led his KMT troops to Taiwan in 1949 and set up an interim government following his defeat by the Communists on the Chinese mainland.

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Future of Chiang Kai-shek statues questioned as Taiwan reckons with former leader’s legacy

But over the years the value of the memorial has been called into question. Many descendants of those killed during the “White Terror” Chiang’s forces initiated have expressed strong opposition to a memorial to someone they see as a dictator.

In 2018 the Democratic Progressive Party government set up the Transitional Justice Commission to review injustices committed during the period between 1949 and 1987, when Chiang and his son Chiang Ching-kuo ruled Taiwan.

The commission, whose priorities also include the removal of authoritarian symbols from public life, announced its plans to transform the memorial following discussions with local opinion leaders.

The giant statue of the former KMT leader will be removed from the memorial hall. Photo: Shutterstock Images

“Under our plan, the memorial will be converted into a public park with the theme of taking a retrospective look at Taiwan‘s authoritarian history,” said Yeh Hung-ling, acting chair of the commission.